EPA Level III Ecoregion
Acadian Plains and Hills
720 native plants for the Acadian Plains and Hills ecoregion (Bangor area).
The Acadian Plains and Hills cover most of eastern and coastal Maine, from Portland and Lewiston up through Augusta, Bangor, and Ellsworth. Cool short summers, long snowy winters, acidic soils, and the moderating pull of the Gulf of Maine near the coast set the terms here. Natives such as northern bayberry, red spruce, and dwarf-laurel handle that acidity and cold, and they keep their form through the wind coming off the water.
Conditions: Acidic, often thin soils over glacial till and bedrock, 42–50 inches of precipitation with heavy snow, cool summers and long cold winters.
Cities and areas: Bangor, Portland, Augusta, Lewiston, Ellsworth, Waterville.
720 Native Plants for the Acadian Plains and Hills
HOA-friendly picks listed first. Pet-safety status varies by species; each plant page shows its sourced ASPCA status. Native range data from vouchered herbarium specimen records and regional native plant society lists.
Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Wild Red Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis
Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Common Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Golden Alexanders
Zizia aurea
New Jersey-tea
Ceanothus americanus
Soft rush
Juncus effusus
American Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Virginia Mountain-Mint
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Scarlet Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana
Red-osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Spotted Geranium
Geranium maculatum
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra
Eastern Red Cedar
Juniperus virginiana
Black-alder
Ilex verticillata
Pennsylvania Sedge
Carex pensylvanica
Hornbeam
Carpinus caroliniana
Black Chokeberry
Aronia melanocarpa
Red Maple
Acer rubrum
White Oak
Quercus alba
Red Chokeberry
Aronia arbutifolia
Christmas Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides
Black Gum
Nyssa sylvatica
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
Thimbleweed
Anemone virginiana
Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum
Smooth Shadbush
Amelanchier laevis
Plantain-leaf Pussytoes
Antennaria plantaginifolia
American Solomon's-seal
Polygonatum biflorum
Calico Aster
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum
Bur Oak
Quercus macrocarpa
Zig-zag Goldenrod
Solidago flexicaulis
Fiddle Fern
Matteuccia struthiopteris
Meadowsweet
Spiraea tomentosa
Alternate-leaf Dogwood
Cornus alternifolia
Bush-honeysuckle
Diervilla lonicera
Heartleaf Or Common Blue Wood Aster
Symphyotrichum cordifolium
Northern Maidenhair
Adiantum pedatum
Juneberry
Amelanchier canadensis
Bear-grape
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Marginal Fern
Dryopteris marginalis
American Basswood
Tilia americana
Virginia Wildrye
Elymus virginicus
Prairie Wildrye
Elymus canadensis
Bicknell's Sedge
Carex bicknellii
Wild Woodland Strawberries
Fragaria vesca
Showing 48 of 720. Enter your ZIP for the natives matched to your yard.
Fall care in the Acadian Plains and Hills
What to do right now for plants commonly grown here. Each links to the full regional care guide for that species, with sources.
- Rough stem goldenrod
Fall is the show. Rough goldenrod blooms yellow from August into October and is one of the best late nectar sources for pollinators before frost shuts things down in northern Maine.
- Little bluestem
Fall is when little bluestem earns its spot. As the nights cool in northern Maine, the clumps turn deep copper and mahogany orange and put up silvery seed heads that catch the low light. The key fall move is to resist cutting it back, so both the winter look and the wildlife food are preserved.
- Wild bergamot
As blooms fade, wild bergamot leaves behind round seed heads on stiff stems. You can cut it back for a tidy look or leave the stems standing to feed birds and shelter insects over the long Acadian winter.
- Cardinal flower
Cardinal flower is short-lived, so fall care is really about helping it reseed and getting the plant ready for a hard northern winter. Let some seed heads ripen and drop, and be careful not to smother the small basal rosette that has to survive the cold.
- Black alder
Fall is when winterberry earns its name. Leaves drop and the branches load up with red berries. Do not tidy them away, the bare red-berried stems are the whole point.
- Swamp milkweed
In fall the plant sets narrow seed pods that split open to release silky, wind-borne seeds. Foliage yellows and dies back as the short Acadian growing season closes. You get to choose between a tidy cutback now or leaving the stalks for winter interest and seed.
- Wild red columbine
Fall is a rest-and-tidy season for columbine in northern Maine. The plant pulls back to a low rosette of leaves that often stays green into the cold, and any seed you did not want dropped can be cleaned up now.
Build a plan for the Acadian Plains and Hills
The Pollinator Patch App turns plants like these into a front-yard plan tuned for the soil, climate, and HOA expectations of the Bangor area.